Autos remain off roads for second day

Autos and cabs remained off the roads on Thursday, second day of the two-day bandh. Many were stranded and commuting to railway stations and the airport was an ordeal.

TNN | Updated: Feb 22, 2013, 02:55 IST

NEW DELHI: Autos and cabs remained off the roads on Thursday, second day of the two-day bandh. Many were stranded and commuting to railway stations and the airport was an ordeal. Most inter-state buses didn't ply. State buses ran special services to the railway stations and ISBT. Still, people complained they weren't frequent enough and those that came were packed.

The picture outside AIIMS was particularly sad. Parvati Devi, for instance, had come all the way from Jharkhand to the hospital for a heart check-up. She returned to her lodgings at East of Kailash on a packed bus. This was after a futile wait for an auto. Renu and her little son, Piyush (name changed) are both HIV positive. Much too weak to walk, they paid Rs 100 for an auto ride from GK-1. "On the way back, we'll try to board a Metro train," Renu said.

Metro trains were packed. But, DMRC said there was no substantial increase in the ridership from Wednesday. For many, Metros and buses didn't connect to their destinations. They walked long distances or hired expensive cabs. "I walked from Safdarjung Enclave to Green Park Metro station as there was no auto. I'll take the Metro to Gurgaon and my office is a little away from the station. I'll surely get late," Esha, who works for an ad agency, said.

Zunuka, an NGO worker in RK Puram, took the day off. She reached AIIMS from her house by Metro but couldn't walk to RK Puram from there. "I'll be very late if I walk to work," she said.

At Old Delhi Railway Station passengers were forced to take rickshaws. "We are coming from the New Delhi Railway Station to board a train for Jodhpur. We tried looking for an auto but did not find one," Sapna Chatterjee said. Chatterjee and her husband had loaded three big suitcases on the rickshaw and agreed to pay Rs 200 for the ride.

Transport minister Ramakant Goswami claimed: "The services remained normal except some minor incidents. In view of the strike, DTC has made arrangements to provide maximum number of buses on roads."

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